Level 5 Demon Seed: Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum

"Damn it! When did this happen?"

Sensing something wrong with his feet, Jiang He abruptly looked down, only to find that vines had crept all over his legs at some point.

The green tendrils were like a sprung bear trap: the more he struggled, the tighter they gripped him.

Seeing that he couldn't break free, Jiang He simply stopped resisting.

If he used his power now, he would alert the enemy, so he would have to take things one step at a time and adapt!

He turned to look behind him and saw through a gap that Yin Su and the others had been bound as well.

Perhaps under the influence of the fragrance, all of them wore crazed expressions, drool at the corners of their mouths. They seemed to be dreaming of something immensely pleasurable...

"Jiang He... Brother Jiang He..."

Ignoring the seductive murmurs in his ears, Jiang He frowned deeply.

The fragrance can get people addicted and make them lose control of their emotions. Then this thing can infect them all!

He had more or less guessed the Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum's plan!

"Huh?"

His gaze swept over Caicai, and Jiang He was immediately surprised.

She had been hypnotized by the fragrance too, yet there was no expression on her face.

"We probably only just got here, so the addiction isn't that strong yet!"

Jiang He murmured to himself. He was just about to turn around when he suddenly felt a tremendous force tug at his feet.

The vines that had lain dormant had all come to life in an instant!

With his feet bound, Jiang He saw the world spin around him. By the time he came to his senses, he found that his entire group had been hoisted into the air.

The slender vines hung motionless for a few seconds, then snapped back at extreme speed, carrying them out of the bus and deeper into the service area.

Along the way, Jiang He saw many figures hanging upside down just like him.

They were like silkworm pupae about to be harvested, hanging from branches with no ability to resist!

I'm afraid everyone in the service area has fallen into its trap!

To avoid revealing anything unusual, Jiang He slowed his breathing as much as possible, keeping his eyes half-open as he memorized the route.

The service area was vast. Even though the vines moved extremely fast, it took nearly three minutes to reach their destination.

So this is where it is!

A huge cave appeared before Jiang He, hidden in the dense forest deep within the service area.

Countless thick branches protruded from the cave entrance, covered in flowers. They looked like green wyverns with their enormous jaws open!

A strange floral fragrance poured from the dragons' mouths. Even with his special mask filtering the air, he could still smell the strong scent of tobacco.

All the tendrils that had been rapidly retreating now stopped. Like cars waiting to pass through, they carried people into the pitch-black cave entrance one after another!

Jiang He and his group were relatively "lucky": they were first in line...

Can this thing identify people with a Superpower Sequence?

Seeing Liu Lu and the others enter the cave behind him, Jiang He was shaken to his core!

His hand, tucked inside his sleeve, glowed with a faint red light, ready at any moment for an emergency.

After speeding through the underground tunnel for dozens of seconds, Jiang He suddenly found his surroundings darken.

He concentrated his power in his eyes and discovered that this was a vast underground plaza.

Survivors hanging upside down kept converging around him, while on the ground beneath him were...

Groups of humans prostrated on the ground, with scattered Eldritch Horrors and Mutant Beasts among them!

They were all facing the same direction!

What's that?

Jiang He looked up, his power-infused gaze piercing through layers of darkness. At the ends of the countless tendrils and branches was a colossal thing hundreds of meters across!

The Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum!!!

Jiang He's head buzzed. An overwhelming sense of danger welled up in him, and the hairs all over his body stood on end.

It was his body's instinctive warning after seeing something beyond its comprehension!

Staring at the enormous, strangely shaped flower bud in the distance, Jiang He wanted nothing more than to pinch his thigh black and blue to see if he was dreaming...

[Ding]

[Level 5 Demon Seed-Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum detected. Danger rating: 999. Would the host like to spend 100 System Points to appraise it?]

The black dialog box that suddenly appeared before him nearly made his eyes pop out!!

A level 5 extraordinary creature...

He probably couldn't even scratch its itch!

Forcing himself to calm his nerves, Jiang He decided he still needed to appraise it.

[Demon Seed-Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum]

[Level: Lv5]

[Skill-Mellow Fragrance Spores: host must reach Lv3 to unlock]

[Skill-Death Coil: ...]

[Skill-Darkness Invasion: ...]

[Skill-Lord of Demon Seed: ...]

[Skill-Symbiotic Embers (ascension skill): ...]

[Description: Formed from the fusion of Demon Seed tobacco and Demon Seed arum spores. It can absorb life force by infecting other creatures, allowing it to evolve rapidly. The Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum can grow to a maximum of level 5. To advance further, it must ascend... Host must reach Lv3 to read the remaining content.]

[Weaknesses: Extreme fear of light: rapidly withers when exposed to light. Extreme fear of fire: its spores are highly flammable.]

[Note: Fire is an effective way to deal with it.]

Damn it! I paid and can't see a thing!

This was the first time Jiang He had learned of the system's restrictions.

There was actually a level requirement to unlock the skills of high-level extraordinary creatures!

In the end, I met it at its most stunning when I was at my most powerless...

Jiang He shook his head, somewhat speechless.

He had thought the Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum was level 4 at most. Given its weakness to fire, he might have been able to ambush it, burn it to death, and earn a huge haul of System Points.

He had even spent 700 System Points to prepare plenty of upgraded alcohol for the purpose...

Well, look at me now. Not only have I lost System Points, I've been taken hostage...

Jiang He gave another speechless smile, but he no longer had any intention of staying.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with Jiang He's thinking. If he found the right counter, it was indeed possible to kill a level 4 extraordinary creature despite the level difference.

The only mistake in the entire plan was that he hadn't expected a level 5 extraordinary creature to appear in a remote service area so early in the apocalypse!

And a level 5 extraordinary creature already had skills to protect itself. Even with the right counter, it would be very difficult to kill one completely...

As Jiang He pondered how to escape quickly, his gaze happened to fall on the Mutant Beasts prostrated below him.

[Ding]

[Level 2 Demon Seed-Demon Seed Lynx detected. Would the host like to spend 50 System Points to appraise it?]

The red dialog box that suddenly appeared before him made Jiang He's eyes light up!

That's right!

If he couldn't kill the big one, he could turn his attention to the little ones!

As long as they were Demon Seed creatures, killing them would earn him double System Points.

That immediately gave him a new idea!

Jiang He wasn't worried that the Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum would kill him now.

Its only goal was to use the fragrance to slowly invade the survivors' brains, then turn them into Demon Seeds when the time came, providing nutrients for the flower bud.

So this big fellow only looked intimidating. As long as it wasn't angered, it wouldn't attack him at all!

Having grasped that crucial point, Jiang He looked at the giant arum in the distance again and found it utterly adorable.

Its pointed shape looked just like a mountain of gold that could keep producing System Points...

He took a barrel of alcohol out of his system space and was just about to act.

But the vines wrapped around his feet suddenly began to shake.

Jiang He stopped, unsure what the thing was up to now. He simply placed the alcohol in front of him, ready to act at any moment.

As the vines trembled, the Corpse-Devouring Devil Arum's flower bud suddenly opened, rapidly extending dozens of transparent threads.

The threads danced continuously in the air before flying swiftly toward the gathered survivors.

The light was so dim that Jiang He could only make them out when they reached him.

Countless long hairs were scattered densely along the threads!

As the hairs brushed his cheek, the power inside Jiang He suddenly began to surge wildly...